“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
- Mark Twain -
In 1978, Gray packed his canvas rucksack and travelled around Europe on a Eurail Pass.
Memories of his arrival at the Gare du Nord on the Ludwig Van Beethoven Express have never left him. Paris was just waking up, the street cleaners, all in green, were sweeping footpaths and running water into gutters, the delicious smell of freshly baked croissants and baguettes wafted from boulangeries, mopeds buzzed past, and there he was, looking at words on signs and shops that were all foreign to him.
That was one of the most exciting moments of his life, and he promised himself he would return one day, which he did—in 1987, with a young Frenchman, Pierre whom he married in 2015.
In 2009 while a language and writing teacher at the Sorbonne University and Sciences Po in Paris, Gray made up his mind to write a novel. Then in February 2017, he established Paris Creative Writers, inviting fiction writers to join him to work on their novels and short stories. In 2020, he achieved his lifetime dream — the purchase of a French château in the beautiful Loire Valley, and in the same year, started Château de Détilly Creative Writers.
Gray has made the historic Château de Détilly his home where he and Pierre run their luxury bed and breakfast business and writers’ retreats.
